Phrolova's Revenge

Last night, the lights in the auditorium stayed on until late into the night.

Half of the crystal chandelier was broken, and the remaining few hung crookedly from the ceiling, their light flickering.

The floor was littered with broken glass, wine stains, crushed snacks, and pieces of tablecloth blown off the plane.

Karenina knelt on the ground, picking up shards of porcelain, sighing as she picked one up.

Jietawi was sweeping up the flower petals with a broom, but after sweeping for a while, she threw the broom down and squatted down, not wanting to move anymore.

"I can't do it anymore," Jietawi wailed, squatting on the ground. "I haven't even had a sip of water since this afternoon, my legs are completely stiff."

Luna walked down the corridor carrying a mop, her face covered in dust, her expression even darker than the dust. "We have to do it even if we can't. The second young lady said that there will be an inspection tomorrow morning, and if there's even a scrap of paper, we'll have to go live with the chickens in the backyard."

"Second Miss is really ruthless." Yalisha walked by, carrying half of the shattered table leg. "They even deducted next month's salary. My rent is due next week, how am I going to pay it now?"

"You still have rent to pay?" Hailunting peeked out from behind the fallen screen. "I can't even pay my Alipay bills. If the Second Miss cuts this off, I'll be starving."

"You all have time to complain." Qishi sat on the floor, tossing the scattered silver cutlery back onto the tray, counting each piece as she threw it in, "One, two, three... My new shoes, the first time I wore them tonight, and I stepped on a piece of broken glass."

Luna slammed the mop on the floor, took a deep breath, and said, "Alright, enough talk. Let's finish this and get some sleep. We have a ton of work to do tomorrow."

Karenina was picking things up, she suddenly looked up and said, "Luna, there's something I've wanted to ask you for a long time."

"Ask."

"When did you arrange that explosion today? We had no idea."

Luna stopped moving.

She turned around and looked at Karenina: "What do you mean I arranged it?"

"About that explosion today," Karenina said matter-of-factly. "You always love to pull these sneaky little tricks, and today the explosion was so accurate, providing timely cover for the young master. Who else could it be but you?"

Luna stared at Karenina, completely bewildered. "I didn't make any arrangements."

Several people around them stopped what they were doing at the same time.

"What did you say?" Jietawi stood up.

"I said I didn't arrange any explosions," Luna's voice was clear. "I don't know what happened either."

The hall was silent for a few seconds.

Qishi was the first to react, her face turning deathly pale. "So... that explosion wasn't set by our people?"

"No."

Who put that there?

No one answered.

A chill ran down everyone's spine.

"Someone infiltrated," Luna's voice turned somber. "They sneaked into the hall without any of us noticing, planted bombs under a dozen tables, and then detonated them right under our noses. We didn't even see a shadow of them."

"Who has such good hands and feet?" Hailunting couldn't help but ask.

"The Fractsidus." Luna gritted her teeth and uttered those three words, her face extremely grim. "Who else could it be? What's his name again? Christopher. Young Master mentioned that name."

"The Fractsidus Society has infiltrated. That young master was indeed framed..." Karenina didn't finish her sentence, but everyone understood what she meant.

Luna didn't speak. She gripped the mop tightly in her hand.

After a while, she spoke up, "Get back to work. I'll report this to the Second Miss tomorrow."

The group lowered their heads and got back to work, but the atmosphere was noticeably more somber than before.

The cleaning got faster, and no one complained about wages anymore.

After working for another half hour, Luna suddenly remembered something.

She glanced around the hall and frowned.

Where is Phrolova?

Karenina looked up. "What?"

"Phrolova," Luna scanned the room, "Has anyone seen her?"

The group of people looked at each other in bewilderment.

Jietawi shook her head, Yalisha shrugged, and Qishi didn't even look up. "I didn't see it either."

Luna's face darkened further. "Phrolova's gone. She was here this morning, and now she's gone."

"Could she have been taken away by the Fractsidus?" Hailunting asked cautiously.

Luna stood there, stunned.

"Get to work." Luna finally tossed the rag into the bucket. "Report to the Second Miss tomorrow and have her send someone to look for her. She has Resonance Suppressor with a tracking device on it; she can't escape."

By the time the last truckload of broken glass was hauled away, Luna couldn't even straighten her back.

She dragged her legs back to her little room, didn't even turn on the light, and collapsed onto the bed, falling asleep without even taking off her shoes.

Luna felt like she was bungee jumping in her sleep.

My whole body plummeted downwards, then bounced back sharply, my heart pounding in mid-air, and my stomach churning.

She groggily tried to turn over, but her arms and legs didn't move.

My whole body hung there like a sausage, swaying back and forth, and suddenly my neck felt icy cold, as if something was choking me.

Luna suddenly opened her eyes.

The field of vision is upside down.

What she saw was the foot of her bed and the floor.

Her ankle was gripped by a red claw, and she was hanging upside down in mid-air.

The claw was attached to a red Tacet Discord over three meters tall. The thing was glowing with a dark red light, and its two compound eyes on its head were darting around. It was gently shaking her like a toy.

"Holy crap!" Luna jolted awake, completely waking up.

She tried to kick, but her ankle was gripped firmly in that large claw.

She looked down and saw a cold metal ring around her neck, fitting snugly above her throat—it was Resonance Suppressor.

Applause came from behind, a slow, leisurely rhythm, one clap at a time, neither hurried nor slow.

Luna turned her head and saw a person sitting in a chair in the corner of the room.

Dressed in red and black stockings, with a bandage wrapped around his right eye, he held a small leather whip in his hand, which he seemed to have gotten from somewhere, and was looking at her with amusement.

It was Phrolova.

"Awake?" Phrolova stood up from his chair and walked towards her at a leisurely pace.

The tip of the whip made a soft scraping sound as it dragged across the floor.

"Phrolova?!" Luna struggled for a moment, swinging back and forth in mid-air. "What are you doing here! Put me down!"

"Put you down?" Phrolova tilted his head and smiled. That smile was so gentle it sent chills down Luna's spine. "I haven't even started yet, putting you down already would be so boring."

Luna's mind raced.

She was suspended in front of Phrolova, wearing a restraint around her neck, her feet gripped by Tacet Discord.

The situation is clear: she's now just a piece of meat on the chopping block.

"Phrolova," Luna tried to keep her voice calm, "Calm down. Let's talk this out."

"Speak properly?" Phrolova tilted his head, walked up to her, and stopped. "When you made me smell chicken poop, did you speak properly to me?"

Luna opened her mouth, but before she could answer, Phrolova raised his hand and slapped her across the face.

Smack

Crisp and clear.

Luna's face was turned to one side by the blow, and a red mark appeared on her left cheek.

Her eyes widened; she was completely stunned.

From childhood to adulthood, her older sister Lucia had never hit her, but now she was being hit by someone, someone she had trained.

"You hit me?" Luna's voice was full of disbelief.

"So what if I hit you?" Phrolova slapped him again with his backhand.

Smack

This time it's the right cheek.

Now it's symmetrical.